The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Wellington Provincial District]

Mr. A. Follett Halcombe

Mr. A. Follett Halcombe, after whom the settlement of settlement of Halcombe was named, has had a career of over forty years in the Provincial District. He has been prominent as a public man, having taken part in the Wellington Provincial Government from 1864 to 1870, during which time he was Provincial Secretary and Treasurer. He afterwards held office under the general Government as Emigration Officer, from which position he retired in 1872. Mr. Halcombe was then appointed attorney and agent for the Emigrnats and Colonists' Aid Corporation, formed to settle the Manchester Block in the Manawatu District, the town of Feilding being the principal settlement. On him devolved the sole responsibility for the arduous and complex work entailed in settling the large tract of country which had been acquired. During the period of nine years in which the district was under his management, Mr. Halcombe had the pleasure of watching the progress of the various townships. From a dense bush the process of evolution went on steadily, despite the many hardships and drawbacks of a pioneer's life in the virgin forest. The bush clearings with their rough slab huts were replaced by well grassed paddocks and smiling homesteads, while the principal townships rapidly developed, streets and squares being laid off, the more prominent corners of which were soon occupied by hotels and business places, private houses meanwhile springing up like mushrooms. In 1881 Mr. Halcombe retired from this onerous position, and removed to Taranaki, where he became
a settler, and here he has since remained with the exception of a short time, during which he was in business in Feilding with his son, Mr. J. W. F. Halcombe, under the style of A. F. Halcombe and Son, as land and commission agents. Mr. Halcombe has ever been known and respected as a large-hearted and cultivated gentleman of strict integrity and great business capacity.